Citronelle FAA Radar Site

Citronelle FAA Radar Site (1982-Active) - A FAA Radar Site first established in 1982 near Citronelle in Mobile County, Alabama. Initially assigned a SAGE ID of Z-336, a JSS ID of J-12 and an FAA ID of QRB. Active FAA Radar Site.

Citronelle FAA Radar Site.

History

This site became an FAA radar site in 1982 replacing the Dauphin Island Air Force Station Z-249 that closed on 30 Sep 1980. The ARSR-2 was relocated from JFK airport in New York City to a new site near Citronelle in Mobile County, Alabama.

The site furnished radar track data to the FAA and was tied to USAF Direction Centers. The FAA first operated the ARSR-2 search Radar as FAA Site QRB. The initial ARSR-2 remained in operation until it was modified to become a Common Air Route Surveillance Radar CARSR in June 2012. The modification used a 7172 Antenna.

An FYQ-49 Common Digitizer was placed in service when the site was activated making this site one of five that were "data-tied" to the JSS System. No height-finder radar was installed at this site. By 1990 the site was equipped with an ARSR-2 search radar and a CD-2C Common Digitizer. The Citronelle CD-2C was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in August 1992.

CARSR Radar

The nationwide replacement program converting FAA legacy radar systems to the CARSR radar configuration was completed by 17 Aug 2015 and Citronelle FAA Radar Site was a part of that program. Legacy FAA radars underwent a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) that replaced key components in the vintage ARSR-1, ARSR-2, FPS-20, FPS-66 and FPS-67 radars. The CARSR program replaced legacy klystron radar transmitters with a solid-state transmitter as well as renovating the radar receiver and signal processor. The CARSR modification also included common digitizer functionality making a separate common digitizer unnecessary. The Citronelle FAA Radar Site is now operating with the CARSR radar. The secondary radar at this site is an ATCBI-6 Beacon set.

The radar site data is now available to the USAF/NORAD Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) operations centers (EADS & WADS) as well as the FAA
Houston ARTCC (ZHU) and adjacent ARTCCs. Other federal agencies have access to the data under the Homeland Security umbrella.